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California Trendsetters:
Garden styles can be defined in a number of ways, and they certainly are here.
The most important garden character point is the planting arrangement, be it formal and regimental in its layout, or casual to chaotic. The second main point of style is determined by looking at the types of plants that are chosen, in that they define the theme or visual temperature of the garden.
Many of the writers, garden speakers, and gardens on tour seem to be thematically using a very casual approach, often modelled on a Cottage garden. The plant material, on the other hand, varies to as great a degree as the climate will allow. Gardens can look like deserts with cactus and succulents or the tropics with orchids, bromeliads, and palms, or even an enhanced version of nature itself by using selections of native or native-like plants.
Theme gardens often include ornamental grasses and bamboos, or mixtures of old fashioned and modern ‘English roses.’ Roses are being mixed into the landscape, not left in their own patch. There is a significant group of gardeners attempting permaculture, food in constant production in much of the garden space.
If one were to look hard enough an example of almost anything imaginable could be found. The typical suburban patch of grass bordered by a narrow bed of shrubs facing the street is changing to garden rooms enclosed by walls, fences, and hedges.
Lawns are losing space to patios and specimen plants. Water features are often used to visually cool a landscape and create white noise to drown out the sounds of traffic. More of the revised spaces are being used as an outdoor extension of the living space and less designated as an ode to turf. Attention is being paid to paving materials such as interlocking bricks, stone, gravel, and decomposed granite. Potted plants are finding more space in the garden than ever. Irrigation is often put to individual plants, small beds, and containers with an automated drip system. When rocks are not available they are made using fiberglass forms and pigmented concrete. Statuary from the classic to the absurd is used, sometimes to excess.
Groups of plants that can’t be grown fast enough by the nurseries include lavenders, herbs and sages, phormiums (New Zealand flax) and tropical shrubs, and a wide array of perennials for the cutting or rock gardens.
The speciality nurseries have a devoted following and are constantly changing their wares much as women’s clothing outlets show a relentless changing of styles. Often it seems that before a plant can be grown a season in the garden it has been discarded by both the wholesale and retail garden centers.
There is an increasing proportion of gardeners who prefer to avoid synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. They are attempting to improve the soil structure and fertility using organic amendments, and dissuading insect infestations by releasing beneficial insects. It is an attempt to mimic the natural process and reduce the workload by co-operating with nature rather than fighting it.
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